The Funeral Portrait @ Whisky A Go Go 4-27-15
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Alesana's Confessions Tour Draws to a Closing Point on Its Cycle
The Confessions Tour a brief yet stable touring trek that
was wrapping up come its stop by the infamous Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood,
California. The tour only having 6 dates remaining the acts a part of it could
likely sadden at its departure.
In any case, the acts themselves included locals Of Euphoria
from Los Angeles County, an act caught briefly, displayed post-hardcore efforts
with pop and metal blended in, bringing the crowd around with excitement, as
everyone was jumping up and down, really getting into it all. The band themselves
stood their ground, sticking to their places on stage, as each had their own
part to do, the drummer showing it off, while the guitarists, bassist, and
vocalists 2 in fact, kept the melodies and tones in check, keeping it
altogether, as they wrapped up their set to be a pleasing one.
Of Euphoria:
Up after these guys was another set of guys from an act
called The Funeral Portrait, bringing their own formula of tunes they like to
call theatrical rock. Imagine a Tim Burton crossover with rock n' roll, you get
some heaviness with eeriness thrown in as well. These guys really got the crowd
going, everyone was highly entertained let alone into it, jumping up and down
and all over the place, waving their hands, arms, and limbs in the air like
they truly didn't care. The band doing their share of jumping around and
interaction with the on lookers, doing tricks, like kicks, arm flares, it was
just an entertaining experience to behold from these guys from all sorts. Their
music was again heavy and really rock n' roll hearted, if you want something to
ease your pain or relax too these guys are the ticket to check out live or
music-wise.
The Funeral Portrait:
Next was an all female group called Conquer Divide whose
performance I did not bear witness but could hear outside the venue, their
style sounded a lot like a younger version of another all female talent,
Kittie, their style being metal, while these guys provided a more rock meets
metal approach. They have the screams like Kittie, except more clean vocal
chords, bringing out that rock sense a tad more. Their performance all and all
sounded quite imaginable.
Only a few acts leftover one taking metal mixing it with trance
and dance calling it Metal/Electronica they are an act called The Browning.
These guys at first glance and ear were interesting, not really grabbing much
interest into their set really expanded. They got everyone involved, as the
mosh pit opened up, everyone hardcore dancing and pushing and shoving one
another. If not others around them jumping up and down and even some brief
sightings of crowd surfing. These guys kept the dancing shoes going throughout
their set, having catchy breakdowns, riffs, solos, and tones that ended up
turning me different towards them. The Browning is an act that didn't impress
at first glance but after some time set in, they beg to differ, changing my
liking towards to being not bad at all.
Capture The Crown:
Now next up was some gents from across the globe Australia
in fact, these guys are known only as Capture The Crown. Another mixture act
that combined metal and rock to form their own take on the genres, like having
melody, screaming, that's what you get with them. Their performance kept the
crowd going from the previous performers, everyone screaming, moshing, just
everyone truly was into these guys set up. The band themselves, went from side
to side, doing their thing, as the crowd watched and went along with everyone
moment, if the vocalist waved his arm back and forth so did the crowd, if he
played games again with his arm, moving it up and down to keep the crowd quiet
or loud as heck, the crowd obeyed. If
that wasn't enough the singer announced that he would by the end of their set
being jumping off the balcony of the two story venue, into the sea of people
below, in which he did as the band wrapped up their set. He fell back facing
the crowd, as people crowd surfed him from the back to the stage, as he
concluded the set, giving a shout out that this was Capture The Crown and they
were not going anywhere!
CAPTURE THE CROWN SETLIST:
1. Reign of Terror
2. Red Light District
3. Smirk
4. RVG
5. To Whom It May Concern
6. Oxy Sunrise
7. You Call That a Knife? This Is a Knife!
Last but not least were the headliners of course! But of
course who else was left but them! Anyhow these were the guys in Alesana, not
Alesona as the singer mentioned to the crowd during their set, but no ALESANA!
Having only seen these guys perform twice before, in which catching their sets
briefly, this would be my first time seeing them front and center in a full
set.
Alesana:
As the lights dimmed and the introduction music began to trance the audience in question, the band took their places, as the intro wrapped up and the song opened it all up, everyone instantly singing along, interacting in the mosh pit, to jumping all over, everyone was interacting from all parts of the venue. As the song wrapped up it just kept going, each song being sung if not push along, as everyone there knew the words, knew what to do! The band themselves drenched in their own bodily fluids kept things going, as they jumped, ran, and went face first into the crowd really keeping that energy flowing.
It was a very entertaining and rather interesting set to say
the least. These guys know how to put on a show and really get the crowds at
said place really energized and interacted. The singer doing his part a bit too
much as he screamed at the top of his lungs really going at it, as he kept
interacting with the crowd, not saying this was a bad thing but repeating it
was a bit overdone. But again, that's the performers business for ya, they do
what they do, and it keeps those who witness them satisfied. As the singer had
said while taking a break outside the venue, before the band even played, was that
"I have to go to work" and that he did.
The Confessions Tour was one of those touring cycles, that
combined a little of everything, it was a decent bill, the performers not bad,
bringing it altogether to be a fun filled night of events that everyone enjoyed
by the looks of it.
ALESANA SETLIST:
1. Fatima Rusalka
2. Hand In Hand With the Damned
3. The Artist
4. Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen
5. The Murderer
6. Curse of the Virgin Canvas
7. Circle VII: Sins of the Lion
8. Comedy of Errors
9. The Thespian
10. Beyond the Sacred Glass
ENCORE:
11. Ambrosia
12. Apology
Conducting From The Grave Re-releases Debut EP and Announces Departure of Frontman
Conducting From The Grave have been quite busy as of late, Recently making the announcement of their vocalist situation, which you can read below, as well as celebrating their 10 year anniversary together. In celebration of their 10 year anniversary, the band will be re-recording and re-releasing their debut EP "Trials of the Forsaken". Having 3 available options $5 for a digital download, $8 for the hard copy limited to only 500, or $20 for the hard copy + T-Shirt. To make your decision go HERE.
The band had made the announcement about the departure of their vocalist Mikey Powell with the following statement;
"After 5 years and 2 albums, Conducting From The Grave have decided to part ways with vocalist Mikey Powell. We wish him the best and love all the work he did vocally on Revenants and our self titled album. Reasons behind this are mainly geographical and financial. He lives near Los Angeles and we are based in Sacramento. We used to tour quite frequently, but over the last two years of minimal band activity (3-5 shows per year) band members' priorities in life have changed. A rift of sorts developed, and he has expressed interest in stepping down as our front man in the past. Since we are now old man weekend warriors it doesn't make sense to have a band member that lives 350 miles away. We are still moving forward with the re-recorded re-release of our debut EP "Trials of the Forsaken", and the 10 year anniversary shows booked for May 1st-3rd. Our ex vocalist Drew Winter will be handling vocal duties. You can hear his most recent work vocally in the band Shadow of the Colossus. Come check out the shows, our friends in Aenimus and Flub are joining us for all 3!"
Taking over will be ex-vocalist Drew Winter whose done work in the band Shadow of the Colossus. If that's not enough the band's original vocalist Shaun Gier will be making a guest appearance on the band's re-recorded and re-release of their debut EP "Trial of the Forsaken" the band had this to say about his re-appearance;
"Our original vocalist Shaun Gier stopped by my home studio today to track guest vocals on our EP re-release, and this happened when my girlfriend and her mom came home lol. He was in the band before Drew Winter and wrote/phrased the last 4 songs of the EP. He's going to hop on stage for a song or two at the Boardwalk in Orangevale May 1st."
Check out the artwork and tracklisting below. The band will also be going on tour performing this EP in full! Check out the list of dates below!
TRACKLISTING:New Versions:
1. Improper Burial
2. Eternally Gutted
3. The Skies are Blackened... Not by Clouds but Insects
4. A Never Ending Search For Closure
5. In Times of Wars and Worries
6. When Two Blood Types Coalesce
7. Natural Born Killaz (Ice Cube and Dr. Dre Cover song)
Original 2005 Versions:
8. Improper Burial
9. Eternally Gutted
10. The Skies are Blackened... Not by Clouds but Insects
11. A Never Ending Search For Closure
12. In Times of Wars and Worries
13. When Two Blood Types Coalesce
14. Marching Towards Extinction demo (2007)
TOUR DATES:
May 1st: The Boardwalk in Orangevale CA (Sacramento)
May 2nd: Jub Jubs in Reno NV (Spring Meltdown Fest)
May 3rd: The Grizzly Den in Upland CA (Socal)
Lords of the Trident Releases Video for "Light This City"
LORDS OF THE TRIDENT have released a new live performance official video of the song "Light This City" taken from their recently released album "Frostburn".
Lead vocalist Fang VonWrathenstein has checked in with the following update:
"Many loyal minions traveled far and wide to attend our CD release party on Friday the 13th in Madison, Wisconsin. Some chartered jets, some rustled horses, one hijacked a cruise liner and somehow made it. All of this was pleasing to your LORDS. However, we know that some of our minions could not make the party, and so we've released this music video for "Light This City", which is a mashup of us playing the song live along with some of the best moments of the party. Did you miss Killius falling into the drumset? Well now you can relive the moment digitally, over and over again!"
Check out the video HERE.
RAMMSTEIN FRONTMAN TILL LINDEMANN TO RELEASE DEBUT SOLO ALBUM
Lindemann, the new project of Rammstein lead singer Till Lindemann alongside Peter Tägtgren (Pain, Hypocrisy), will have its long-awaited debut album Skills In Pills released on June 23, 2015 via Warner Bros. Records in the U.S. (following the global release on June 19). Lead single "Praise Abort" will be released 3 weeks ahead of the album on May 29.
Pre-order Skills In Pills via iTunes:
http://smarturl.it/skillsinpills.itunes
Pre-order Skills In Pills via the Warner Music store:
http://smarturl.it/LindemannWMS
Based in Germany, Rammstein is known as one of the most successful and well-respected rock bands of our time, having sold an incredible 17 million records around the globe to date. Peter Tägtgren, the mastermind of both Hypocrisy and Pain, is also a well-respected and highly-acclaimed Metal producer, and has worked with the likes of Amon Amarth, Dimmu Borgir, Sabaton, Children of Bodom, Cradle of Filth, and more.
Lindemann combines the Rammstein singer's often hilarious, sometimes utterly filthy lyrics with Tägtgren's super-modern studio skills and instrumentation, resulting in the twisted product of two uniquely creative minds, Skills In Pills.
Stay tuned for more information to come on Lindemann!
Skills In Pills will be available in the following versions:
•Standard (Digipack)
•Special Edition (Blu-Ray-packaging, high-quality booklet, bonus track)
•12" Vinyl (gatefold cover, 28-page booklet, bonus track, album-download-code)
•Digital
•Super Deluxe (Coffee-table-style book with 80 pages, high-quality package, CD with bonus track)TRACKLISTING:
01. Skills In Pills
02. Ladyboy
03. Fat
04. Fish On
05. Children Of The Sun
06. Home Sweet Home
07. Cowboy
08. Golden Shower
09. Yukon
10. Praise Abort
11. That’s My Heart *
* = Bonus Track
Sofia Talvik's "Big Sky Country" Video Released
Sofia Talvik is a North Sea siren blending sparkle and melancholy, and she is a veteran performer with five full-length albums as well as numerous EPs and tours. She had this to say about this song and it's video accompanying it;
"Many of the songs from Big Sky Country were inspired by my U.S tour that took me through 37 states in 16 months," Talvik said. "I wrote this song when I was nearing the end of the tour, and I was looking back at all the beautiful places we had visited and all the great people we met along the way. But the song is also about coming home, something I was longing for at the time. I filmed a lot of the tour, making little YouTube video diaries, and the music video for 'Big Sky Country' is put together of clips from the different episodes. It was fun to make because it gave me a chance to re-live the tour a little. It was really a once in a life time experience to drive around the U.S in an old RV for so long."
Check it out HERE.
Darling Down Releases Quentin Tarantino Style Video for "Never Tell"
Female fronted Rock band Darling Down have released their "Never Tell" music video. The video was produced by Travis Ross at RipJaw Media and was filmed in the sleepy town of Hillsdale Michigan. The track comes from their new album Never Tell which features collaborations with accomplished guest musicians including Clint Lowery of Sevendust, Vinnie Dombrowski of Sponge, Stephen Richards of Taproot, and Brett Hestla of Dark New Day. The album is available now through all digital retailers.
"The best part of the video is all the gore. We filmed it with inspiration from Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino. I was surprised to learn how the special effects makeup artist made blood splatter. Let’s just say there was a lot of spitting." - Ryan Hudson (Darling Down).
Check it all out HERE.
Anti-Flag's Chris#2 Reflects Upon the Art that They Create
Anti-Flag an act that has never stepped down from the
political aspect of explaining things to the world in the form of their music.
Having released countless material over the span of their musical careers, the
band is taking approaches in new directions with acoustic releases, live
material, with so much touring that they can't contain themselves.
Bassist/vocalist Chris#2 discusses these matters and much more that they have
in-store!
1. First off, who are you and what do you do in the band?
Chris: My name Chris#2 and I play bass/sing in the formation
band Anti-Flag.
2. "The Terror State" Tour wrapped up recently,
where you played that release in full swing, would you consider doing that
again for any of your other releases?
Chris: Yeah that's a interesting question, for us it ended
up being, really received than we anticipated and expected it to go, with the
amount of people interested in seeing that show. Perhaps it's something we
could do again, we don't really ever put book ends on anything we ever do as a
band, we found that leads us to having some hypocrisy whenever we create
definitions for ourselves so possibly. Maybe we will do it with another record,
we do have a few records that people would like to see front to back like that,
it could be a cool experiment. it's very difficult to learn those songs and
play them in a live environment so I am not sure if we're up to the task or learning
them all just to make a few people happy haha.
3. What about your ANTIFest that popped up in 2012/2013,
will it be making a comeback or was it a onetime ordeal?
Chris: Yeah we took last year off, because we took the
entire summer off for ourselves as a band. We are going to do it this year,
probably in the fall but we do have plans to do it again. I think with these types
of endeavors, it's important to not haphazardly do them, we felt as if, if we
had done one last year, it would have been thrown together last minute, and
that's not how we want this show to be represented. We'll be bringing it back
full swing and have a bunch of bands lined-up for it so it will be a good time.
4. Your band has been known to stick to the political aspect
of lyrical content and music in general, but why did you want to go in this direction
in the first place?
Chris: Yeah well I think that, for a few reasons;
A. We're inducted with politics because of how we grew up
and the things that are important to us. I think being from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
a town that suffered much at the hands of decisions of greed when the steel
mills were shut down, shipped overseas in order to obtain cheaper labor. I
think that really showed us at a young age, that caring more about just
ourselves, is how we want to operate and we don't ever want to be in situations
where we would benefit very few but maybe service the many. So I think the in
documentation of politics is why we sound the way we sound and write the things
that we write. Just like our favorite bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols,
The Dead Kenndeys, we grew up on political punk rock and that's the type of
music we wanted to make, it moved us. I don't think it's necessarily important
that all art or that all music have social commentary but I think that if you're
going to consider yourself punk rock or a punk rocker, that means you're going
to live a life with empathy and that you're going to care about more than just
yourself because that will reflect more in the art that you create.
5. You have your first release under Spinefarm Records, are
you happy with being a part of the label, who are some of your favorite label
mates?
Chris: Yeah it's interesting Spinefarm Records, is a new
relationship for us, it's one that we were not too familiar with until they
came and wanted to release this record. "American Spring" was written,
recorded, all on our own dimes and our own pockets. We did it with some friends
in California and finished everything even before we were signed to a record
label, that was kind of the plan for this album, really be invested in
Anti-Flag and bet on ourselves. The end of result of that was we brought labels
in to hear the record, based on their reactions to it, based on their plan for
it, that's where and how we would decide who would release it. Spinefarm Records
had a really great plan, they are a global label, having offices in Berlin,
Pairs, London, Finland, these are all things that are important to Anti-Flag,
to serve territories and represent there. As far as artists on the label, we're
not very versed in the metal bands that are on it, but they put out a
Dragonforce and 36 Crazyfists albums that are pretty cool. They have done some
interesting things and been on the edge of genre, we're not a pop punk band or
a pop band or a super heavy punk rock, we're in the middle of all those things,
so having a label that knows how to handle bands and aren't genre specific was
important to us.
6. You decided on going with the first and opener off
"American Spring" called "Fabled World". Why was this song
picked out and will it be used towards creating a video to go with it?
Chris: Well, we did a lyric video for it, that's really all,
I think when you have a record that comes out and you know you have a release
date, a few months ahead, we're really adamant about getting music out to
people. It's not necessarily the single, on the record there's a song called "Brandenburg
Gate", that's the one we made a full video for it and will be out soon. "Fabled
World", was the introduction track and was the last song we wrote for the
record, it ended up being the first track on the album, and it ends up covering
a lot of the themes on the album, I think it was a good overview for the record
and the first track to get a taste to the people to get an idea of what would
be involved.
7. How does the single song picking process go, between the
band members, have you ever gotten into an argument about which song to pick
out?
Chris: Always, an argument, there's no decision on the perks
of being in a band. But yeah it is a very difficult process, especially when
you work really hard on a record with 14 songs, and people's perspective could
be decided in just 1 minute of music. It's very tiring and an arduous process but
I think we have been together long enough to trust in one another's decisions,
and that's what being a part of a new label is all about, you have new
conversations with new people, you get new perspectives of what the songs are
and what really moves people and doesn't
move people. Thankfully with the songs we're releasing first, we have come to
some agreements on decisions with very little arguing but there is some.
8. Whose idea was it to want to use "pink" in the
album's artwork?
Chris: It was the artist's idea, a friend of ours from
Pittsburg named Doug, had done the artwork for the album and when we came up
with the title "American Spring" he immediately went to this renewal
in spring time, where it was filled with art and colors that were very energetic
so I think pink was the first go too color for him. We really latched onto it,
I think it's really striking for our band, we actually are having more people
comment on it than any other artwork for any of our other releases we have
released. So I think it's done its job of being a talking point.
9. Since pink is being used here, will you be taking that
color using it towards other mediums like merchandise?
Chris: So far yeah, I have pink guitar picks. So we're on
it.
10. Can you describe that artwork and explain how the music
relates to it?
Chris: Well the album's front cover is an Islamic women with
a hyper realistic version of a flower exploding over her face and the back
cover is of a male solider with the same flower exploding over his face. We
wanted people to feel one way or another way about these people, if you watch
Fox News all day, you only believe what we see on television to be truth, then
you may see a Muslim women and think this or that or you go to a punk rock show
you may get information that is left leading or you may think this or that and
we wanted to challenge people's thoughts. How it relates to the music is that
it's an idea of rebirth and renewal, challenging us as people to live better
lives and live above it all. The ways you do this is by confronting it, that's
what these songs on the record are all about.
11. What about the title "American Spring" does
that actually refer to "Spring time" in America or does it refer to
something else altogether?
Chris: Well it's a reference to a political movement that
happened in the Middle East called the Air of Spring. That was a revolution
brought about by people using technology to organizing rally's and other
events, so we thought that was an inspiring time for us as band and others. What would this look like
and be like, young people want everything to be universal. There are a few
simple tasks into a new direction and way and how the record is found.
12. Is it important for you to paint visual pictures with
the songs?
Chris: I think so, I think it's more important to get people
excited and interested in caring more about just themselves. I think that there
are a lot of things, whether it's television or dinner at a dinner table, there's
a lot of things telling you you're not good enough, that you need to work
harder, the decisions you're making are poor. I think we need to tell people to
just be themselves, it's what the songs are about a time of celebration. It's
as a band and we have empathy towards these situations happening around the
world.
13. What would be the cinematic equivalent of "American
Spring"?
Chris: I don't know, I think I would hope it would be
something better than a Pixar movie. I don't know, maybe that movie hasn't been
made yet. I think if you look at a documentary like Black Fish or a documentary
like Bowling for Colombian, these were moments in history where things had
happened because a movie was so powerful. I would hope that our record would
have a similar influence that those movies did.
14. What are your expectations for the CD?
Chris: Really we have none. We set bars very low and we know
how hard we will work and the passion will be there and people will connect and
support it. We have a year and a half of touring planned. If there are people
there to listen we will play the songs for them.
15. When can we expect to see a live CD or DVD from you
guys?
Chris: I don't know maybe. That's a interesting question, we
have never questioned what we have released I have no idea. If we do release a
live CD or DVD you will get no credit because it was probably your idea haha.
16. How about your music in general, will we ever see it
take the acoustic approach?
Chris: Actually yeah,
Justin and I did an acoustic set the other day and that went really well. We
did a 7 inch where we re-recorded old songs so maybe the songs translate
acoustic more well than we thought they would so maybe a live DVD of acoustic
performances will be made? Who knows!
17. What else can we expect to see from you guys for the rest
of this year?
Chris: We are going to be touring a lot. Touring across the
U.S. then Europe, then the U.S. again and Europe and more touring until this
year's end.
18. Do you have anything else you would like to say or want to add?
Chris: No, for more about the band go to our website http://www.anti-flag.com/
and more about the world go to http://www.democracynow.org/
and thank you very much!
